No Criminal Case Aginst Atiku in US - Justice Department

Atiku Abubakar

The United States Department of Justice said it does not have any record indicting former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, of any wrongdoing in the US, SUNDAY PUNCH is reporting.
The newspaper said this was according to an email correspondence on Friday from the spokesperson for the US Department of Justice (DOJ), Peter Carr.
Carr, according to the newspaper, wrote “Thank you for reaching out to us.
“I have checked the public court records, and they do not show cases filed against a defendant named Atiku Abubakar.”
SUNDAY PUNCH had sought to find out if Abubakar is wanted in the US in connection with any issue of money laundering.
The mail also asked the department to confirm whether Abubakar has been banned from entering the US and if there is any court case against him concerning the Halliburton scandal, which resulted in the conviction of a US lawmaker, William Jefferson.
Asked if it is true that the ex-vice president, now a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, was banned from entering the US, the American official said the issue was confidential.
He said: “Visa issues are confidential under section 222(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act. If your question is specifically about entry – not about visas per se – I would refer you to the US Customs and Border Protection.”
The enquiry, the newspaper said, was sequel to the accusation last week by the Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, that Abubakar was avoiding a visit to the US because he might be charged with a case of money laundering.
El-Rufai made the allegation in reaction to Abubakar’s interview, which he granted to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission’s quarterly publication, Zero Tolerance, where he had accused him of corruption by offering him Transcorp’s shares.
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